It started back in 2010 when the New England Patriots sent Randy Moss back to Minnesota. The Boston Red Sox followed suit last season when the shipped Josh Beckett across the country to the Dodgers. The Boston Bruins joined the trend of New England clubs jettisoning their most polarizing players on Thursday when they traded goaltender Tim Thomas to the New York Islanders for a conditional secon...

That is twice now, Timothy.
I hate it when Sports and Real Life intertwine and that is twice now in less than half a year that Tim Thomas has thrown my life a kilter and brought the two together.
Might as well, I guess, because never again will one of the most memorable characters of the Boston sports scene be able to do so as, just like that, with a simple Facebook post, the Tim Thomas Era in ...

Is it plagiarism if it’s your own work you’re ripping off?
Almost exactly one year ago earlier I rolled out my thoughts on the Boston Bruins as they were getting set to face the Montreal Canadiens in the first round of the 2011 NHL Playoffs. Just hours away from the puck dropping on Game 1 of the Bruins’ Eastern Conference Quarterfinals series with the Washington Capitals here in the 2012...

I have always felt The World of Sports should be an escape from the Real World. A place where you can go between the lines, block out the harsher realities of life and get wrapped up in something totally different and unrelated. An inconsequential reality of sorts.
Every now and then, however, worlds collide and a story all too real infiltrates the World of Sports. Try as we might to ignore the...

A starting goaltender getting pulled from a game isn’t exactly a huge story. It happens. We are all bound to have our off nights, but when you are the reigning Vezina Trophy winner starting for the reigning Stanley Cup champion, getting yanked from a tie game might lead one to think a little.
That was Tim Thomas’ Saturday night in Columbus, as the Boston Bruins goaltender got the hook after...

Not too long ago, ESPN the Magazine called it “Titletown,” but now it seems the sky is falling in Boston.
The Boston Red Sox just suffered possibly the worst September collapse in Major League history, missed the playoffs and now are a team in upheaval with fires to put out in both the clubhouse and the front office.
The Boston Celtics were a team in disarray when they were last on the cour...

A writer far better than I once told me that if I ever wanted to be taken seriously, I shouldn’t use any kind of clichés when I write. Maybe that is just another reason that there is no hope for me as a writer because, as I see it, there is a reason something becomes a cliché. They are generally true, present a smooth way to describe a topic and are easy to use. Today’s topic, whether tru...

Over the years, I have argued that Bruins GM, Peter Chiarelli, has overpayed while paying for his team. I have written in this space that Andrew Ference, Tim Thomas, Zdeno Chara, Patrice Bergeron and Michael Ryder were all overpaid by at least $1M per player. Due to these overpayments, the Bruins were always up against the cap ceiling and could never get that Tomas Kaberle, puck moving defensem...

The parade is over. The confetti’s been swept up. The last few drops of $100K champagne downed. The lockers have been cleared. All the hardware has been handed out.
The faithful of the Back-and-Gold will always have their memories of the Boston Bruins’ historic Stanley Cup run this Spring, but they are now just that: Memories. It has been two weeks since Bruins defeated the Vancouver Canuck...

The Boston Bruins are the Stanley Cup champions.
By virtue of a 4-0 win over the Vancouver Canucks on Tuesday night in Game 7 of the 2011 Stanley Cup Finals, I get to type eight words I was not sure I’d ever have the opportunity in my lifetime to say:
The Boston Bruins are the Stanley Cup champions.
A time will come for critical analysis and insight into this team, this series and this season...

After two dominant wins in Games 3 and 4, the Boston Bruins got themselves back into the series, tying things up with the Vancouver Canucks at two games apiece in the 2011 Stanley Cup Final. With the Bruins manhandling the Canucks in those games, outscoring their foes 12-1, the city had been in an uproar since Wednesday night, dusting off the cones and stocking up on confetti.
It is true even a...

Drafting a goaltender usually means at least another year or two at least until fans can even begin to reap any type of benefit of their team's choice. It's the position that generally requires the most maturing before a player is able to make the jump. It also requires the most patience by everyone from the player himself, to management and coaching, all the way down to the fans.
It's been a...